Bruce Moreton ’69 has retired after a 42-year career with Bechtel Corporation as an engineer and project manager. He’s now living in Oro Valley, AZ, with his wife of 45 years and has three grown children and three grandchildren. He tells us, “Menlo holds a special place in my history and heart, probably most notably for old friends and good times on the soccer field.”

Robert Abbe ’84 shared that he, Doug Herrington ’84, Howard Holderness ’84, Dave Pomeroy ’84, Mike Demetrios ’84, Alex Rubin ’84, and their spouses gathered together in San Francisco earlier this year.

Chrissie Cutting ’89 has been volunteering every Friday afternoon for the past several years at Giant Steps Therapeutic Equestrian Center in Petaluma, where adults and children with special needs learn to ride. In 2017, she received her certification as a therapeutic riding instructor, allowing her to spend many Sundays teaching riding skills to special groups from Project Avary, COTS, and local USO centers. She says volunteering has been an excellent way to balance her busy schedule working with preschoolers and tutoring older students in all levels of math.

Victor Mezhvinsky ’00 founded MT Contracting & Development, which was recently honored with its second consecutive National Association of Home Builders award for the best remodel in the country. (Victor is pictured with his sons, Aaron on the left and Ethan on the right.)

Nick Casey ’01, the Andes bureau chief for The New York Times, appeared on the paper’s popular podcast, The Daily, on February 11 to talk about the burgeoning humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.

In mid-February, Jennifer Mitchell ’05 performed as one of three major vocal soloists in the San Francisco Symphony’s presentation of Mendelssohn’s “Lobgesang” (“Song of Praise”) under guest conductor and pianist András Schiff. The San Francisco Chronicle’s review of the performance called her singing “sumptuous.” Starting in late March, Jennifer is set to perform with the Lamplighters Music Theatre production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Trial By Jury,” which will run in several venues around the Bay Area.

Caroline Clark ’07 appeared on PBS NewsHour to share her experience growing up deaf. In the segment, she said, “I think the fundamental experience of really learning how to fail over and over over has really molded me into the person I am today. Being told constantly, ‘Do not pronounce it that way. Try again. Do it over.’ And so I really have embraced this growth mindset and I have a firm belief that I can do anything I want as long as I try hard enough.”

Connor Douglass ’08 tells us that he will be “graduating with an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in June, getting married to Abbey Davis in July, and moving to Seattle to work for Microsoft starting in August!”

On February 28, Issa Coultas ’09 spoke via videoconference to Menlo’s Spectrum Club about her experience coming out as a lesbian non-conforming woman while at the School, and her experiences in college and afterward. She answered students’ questions, explaining that while not everything about her journey went perfectly — far from it — she felt that, “Most, if not all of my teachers were supportive of me,” and that described feeling grateful for the out teachers who modeled for her that she could have a life as an out person, herself. Now, she’s arrived at a place where she feels, “I’m me. I’m going to stay me. I’m not going to go into the closet for anybody.”

Sam Bergeson ’13 is a senior at New York University pursuing a dual degree in Journalism in NYU’s College of Arts & Science and Cinema Studies in NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She has been published several times in various national and international publications and recently completed an internship at the magazine Marie Claire in their editorial department. Sam was also awarded the 2019 Student Achievement Award by the New York Film Critics Circle. The award, which is given to most outstanding student writer in film, was awarded to Sam at the New York Film Critics Circle Award event held on January 7, 2019 in New York City. While at the award ceremony, Sam met Martin Scorsese, Ethan Hawke, and Glenn Close, among other award winners and presenters.

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